Conventionally, variations of characteristic vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of a cantilever in a cantilever array comprising a plurality of cantilevers have been measured by scanning with an electric sensor or an optical sensor on the cantilevers aligned in a line (see a non patent document 1 below).
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of such a measuring device with a series of inline type cantilevers.
In FIG. 1, 101 is a base plate, 102 is a cantilever array in which cantilevers are aligned in a line along the base plate 101, 103 is an optical measuring head driven in the inline direction (a) in order to measure variations of characteristic vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of cantilevers, and 104 and 105 are modification heads for fixing modifier material on the cantilever array 102
In addition, investigations have been carried for the purpose of utilizing each cantilever and/or each probe as a material sensor by modifying each of the cantilever and/or probe with a particular material (see non patent documents 2 and 3 below).
In the investigation disclosed in the non patent document 3, printing of modifier materials on cantilevers is performed by positioning a nozzle of an inkjet printer in a 3-dimensional xyz coordinate.
In addition, non patent documents 4 and 5 disclose methods of modifying cantilevers using an inkjet printer.
Several kinds of measuring methods and devices using several kinds of cantilevers as indicated below have been proposed by the present inventor.
(1) A cantilever array with a simple structure enabling correct detection of a surface of a sample, a fabrication method thereof a scanning probe microscope using therewith, a sliding device of guiding and/or rotating system, a sensor, a homodyne laser interferometer, a laser Doppler interferometer with an optical exciting function of a sample, and a method for exciting a cantilever (see the patent document 1 below).
(2) A cantilever as a micro 3-dimensional structure comprising silicone micro wires, fabrication methods thereof and devices using the cantilever (see the patent document 2 below).
(3) A method and device for measuring vibration of a cantilever in a cantilever array comprising plurality of cantilevers (2-n) mutually having different characteristic vibration frequencies, wherein each characteristic vibration frequency of the cantilevers is successively excited by modulated optical excitation to measure the vibrations by the laser Doppler interferometer (see the patent document 3 below).
Non-patent document 1: Gerhand Grosch, “Hybrid fiber-optic/micromechanical frequency encoding displacement sensor”, Sensors and Actuators A, April 1990, Vol. 23, Issues 1-3, pp. 1123-1131.
Non-patent document 2: James C. Mabry, Tim Yau, Hui-Wen Yap, John-Bruce D. Green, “Developments for inverted atomic force microscopy”, Ultramicroscopy 91, (2002), pp. 73-82.
Non-patent document 3. M. K. Baller, H. P. Lang, J. Fritz, Ch. Gerber, J. K. Gimzewski, U. Drechsler, H. Rothuizen, M. Despont, P. Vettiger, F. M. Battiston, J. P. Ramseyer, P. Fornaro, E. Meyer, and H.-J. Guentherodt: “A cantilever array-based artificial nose”, Ultramicroscopy, 87(1-4), (2000), pp. 1-9.
Non-patent document 4: Bietsch A, Zhang J Y, Hegner M, Lang H P, Gerber C; “Rapid functionalization of cantilever array sensors by inkjet printing”, NANOTECHNOLOGY 15(8) August 2004, pp. 873-880.
Non-patent document 5: Bietsch A, Hegner M, Lang H P Gerber C; “inkjet deposition of alkanethiolate monolayers and DNA oligonucleotides on gold: Evaluation of spot uniformity by wet etching”, LANGMUIR 20(12) Jun. 8, 2004, pp. 5119-5122.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-114182.
Patent document 2: WO 03/102549 A1
Patent document 3: WO 2004/061427 A1